The Florida Senate

494.003  Exemptions.--

(1)  None of the following persons is subject to the requirements of ss. 494.003-494.0043:

(a)  Any person licensed under ss. 494.006-494.0077, except as provided in s. 494.0073

(b)  A bank, bank holding company, trust company, savings and loan association, savings bank, credit union, or consumer finance company licensed pursuant to chapter 516.

(c)  A wholly owned bank holding company subsidiary or a wholly owned savings and loan association holding company subsidiary that is approved or certified by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the Veterans Administration, the Government National Mortgage Association, the Federal National Mortgage Association, or the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation.

(d)  The Federal National Mortgage Association, the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation; any agency of the Federal Government; any state, county, or municipal government; or any quasi-governmental agency that acts in such capacity under the specific authority of the laws of any state or the United States.

(e)  Any person licensed to practice law in this state, not actively and principally engaged in the business of negotiating loans secured by real property, when such person renders services in the course of her or his practice as an attorney at law.

(2)  None of the following persons is required to be licensed under ss. 494.003-494.0043:

(a)  An insurance company duly licensed in this state when dealing with its clients in the normal course of its insurance business.

(b)  A federally licensed small business investment company.

(c)  A securities dealer registered under the provisions of s. 517.12, when dealing with its corporate or individual clients in the normal course of its securities business.

(d)  Any person acting in a fiduciary capacity conferred by authority of any court.

(e)  A wholly owned subsidiary of a bank or savings and loan association the sole activity of which is to distribute the lending programs of such bank or savings and loan association to persons who arrange loans for, or make loans to, borrowers.

(3)  It is not necessary to negate any of the exemptions provided in this section in any complaint, information, indictment, or other writ or proceeding brought under ss. 494.001-494.0077. The burden of establishing the right to any such exemption is upon the party claiming the benefit of the exemption.

History.--ss. 17, 50, ch. 91-245; s. 4, ch. 91-429; s. 7, ch. 95-313; s. 542, ch. 97-103; s. 81, ch. 2002-1.